Casimir Adalricus was standing in a composed, almost regal manner with his arms folded, waiting for the others to arrive.

More and more cadets gathered around him until eventually, over a hundred had assembled.

Among them, two people standing closest to Casimir caught Cedric's attention. They were both girls with the same short black hair cut in a bob, and they were wearing matching lemon-colored dresses.

'Are those the sisters who killed Audrey?'

Cedric thought as he watched them chat with each other.

'They definitely fit the description Audrey had given me.'

He smiled unconsciously because now, he had found the next targets that he would use to farm negative karma points.

He looked away from them to the others. By now, the people gathering had numbered about a hundred and fifty.

At that moment, Muninn ruffled his feathers and a few fell to the ground. When they did, Cedric could hear the murmurs of every cadet.

One of them complained to another. "Why did he ask all of us to meet here? He could have just used the whisperscripts, you know?"

The other cadet shrugged. "There's lots of abilities in the grove. You don't know who might be listening. I think it's more secure out here."

Another cadet in a different group whispered to his companion, "Did you hear?"

The other replied, "What?"

"News going around is that Yami lost a fight with a small party recently."

"Huh? Yami lost a fight? That's new."

"Yeah, crazy. I heard he also lost the body that he had prepared for this eclipse."

That caught Cedric's interest, but a different conversation from a pair of nearby cadets drew his attention.

"How many dominants from that bastion have you killed?"

"Four so far. How about you?"

The other cadet sighed. "Just one. My damned party members are so bothersome they won't even let me stay away from them for long."

'Are these guys just going around killing cadets?'

Cedric frowned.

It was at that moment that Casimir finally spoke:

"Quiet guys."

His voice was remarkably low, yet everyone seemed to hear him clearly as he and every other person present held a whisperscript in their hand. When the murmurs finally died down, he continued.

"I'm sure we all know why I asked you all to gather here. Things have changed, and so we have to change up the plan a bit. But before that, there's a party among our enemies that you need to avoid at all…"

He was still speaking when he suddenly paused. Then, his eyes snapped toward the top of the tree where Muninn was perched.

His brows furrowed as he studied the bird for just a brief second, then he stretched out his hand toward it.

Before the bird or Cedric could react, an unseen force wrapped around the raven's body, and the bird was yanked through the air, hurtling downward into Casimir's open palm. As soon as his fingers locked around the creature, Casimir didn't hesitate. With his other hand, he grabbed the bird by its small, feathered head, then he gave a sharp, clinical twist and popped it clean off.

Cedric flinched as his connection with Muninn was suddenly severed.

"What?"

For a moment, his eyes were wide in disbelief. Then, his fingers tightened around his cup, and he muttered angrily, "That bastard…"

Truth be told, Cedric was a bit hurt. Since he had begun growing attached to his ravens, Muninn's death stung more than he expected.

"Tsk."

He stared into the dark liquid in his cup, his mind racing.

'How did he know that I was watching him?

…And why are they all gathered?

Also… they mentioned Yami. Are those the cadets from the Bastion of the Somarian Pride?'

Cedric's frown deepened.

It looked like those guys were planning something big.

But what exactly? He couldn't tell.

Suddenly, he began to have a bad premonition.

He looked to the others who were still sleeping, then to Leon.

'I should tell him to watch out for those cadets when they get back to the grove.'

…In the meantime, Cedric decided on resting for the remainder of the day. He was too tired to do anything, and the others seemed to share the same sentiment.

When they woke up some time around noon, both Cedric and Aika ended up going right back to sleep. Just like that, the entire day passed by uneventfully.

It wasn't until the middle of the night that both Cedric and Aika woke up, finally feeling alert enough to draw in mana and begin filling Cedric's core.

***

The next day, the party woke up looking a bit better than they did the previous day.

After breakfast, they decided to skin the good parts of the meat that they had gotten from the hunt.

As for how they were able to get the corpses in the first place, apparently, while they had been busy fighting the Saurians, the ravens that had been hovering over the battlefield weren't just flying around.

Cedric had discovered that since he could see through his ravens' eyes, he could also grant his Ravens of Decay temporary authority over his inventory. By sharing his gamer privileges with his ravens, he could have them open his inventory whenever something needed to be stashed.

And so, following his command, the ravens flew over the battlefield storing a few of the corpses killed by the others into it.

It wasn't an easy task to skin these corpses because of the creatures' tough skin and the feathers, which were almost somewhat metallic. The party had to summon their bonds into their weapon forms to be able to pierce through the hide, and even with that, it took hours to skin all corpses properly. But by the end of the day, they finally managed to harvest and pack enough meat to last them more than a month.

***

After dinner, which transpired in somewhat awkward silence, Cedric lay sprawled on the ground near the fire, chewing on a blade of grass while also lost in his thoughts.

The others sat around the fire quietly soaking in the warmth, until Dion decided to strike up a conversation.

"When we get back to our world, we would have at least three months break to return to our homes. What's the thing you would like to do the most?"

He was addressing the question to Evelyn, who was resting her head on Julius' lap. Evelyn turned to him, then looked away and replied with a thin smile.

"I'm going to enter a match to the death in the royal arena."

"Huh?" Dion blurted out, visibly surprised.

Everyone also turned to look at her. After a few seconds, she continued.

"I used to visit the arena with my brother all the time, ever since I was little. I love everything about it... the roar of the cheers, the smell of the blood, and that specific look of fear in your opponent's eyes as you snuff the light out."

She chuckled in excitement as she spoke.

'Jeez… she's really deranged.'

Cedric shook his head before looking away from her.

"I've always wanted to be the one standing in the center of that sand," she continued, her voice dropping to a dreamy whisper. "And now that I'm of age, I don't have to just watch anymore. I can finally feel it for myself."

"Damn…" Dion muttered, shaking his head. "Just don't get yourself killed, okay?"

Evelyn chuckled. "If I survive this hell of a world and make it back, I don't think there's gonna be a lot of fighters who could actually best me."

For some reason, her words made the mood a bit somber, because there was a lot of truth in them. If they really did make it out of this place, they would return as veterans of a nightmare.

She looked to Dion, who seemed a bit lost in thought, and asked, "What about you, Dion? What do you want to do?"

Dion's smile returned. He scratched the back of his head and let out a small, self-deprecating laugh.

"Me? Honestly, I just want to spend my nights in a tavern with a full mug and a loud crowd. I want to lose track of time, listen to some terrible music, and not have to look over my shoulder for once. I want to completely forget the horrors of this place, and I want to forget that in just a few months, we would be either back here or in the second ring, depending on our grades."

He looked into the flames, his expression softening.

"I'll probably give my family a lot of headaches, but I don't really care much at this point. I just want to be a regular guy at a bar who doesn't have a single responsibility. And hopefully… I'll have a lot of girls flocking around me too."

Audrey and Leon chuckled when they heard the last bit.

Leon smirked, "Good luck on the girls part. Well, given your track record, I think you're going to need more than luck."

Dion feigned being hurt, clutching his chest. "Hey, I've got plenty of charm. It's just being suppressed by the constant fear of death right now."

Audrey laughed, then her gaze shifted toward Cedric. She leaned forward slightly, the firelight dancing in her eyes. "What about you, Cedric? What's the first thing you're doing when you get back home?"

Cedric looked at her but didn't reply immediately. He stayed silent for a few seconds, staring into the shifting embers of the fire, before he eventually replied.

"Mmm… I haven't really thought about what I want to do. It's not like I have a home to return to, anyway."

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